London has the amazing company called London Walks, which runs excellent walking tours everyday throughout the city. The tours are expert led, 2-3 hours long, about a dozen or fewer people, and costs just 15 pounds, amazingly. Are there similar walking tours in major Italian cities? Most of the ones I see are considerably more expensive? Thanks!
Posted by
872 posts
How about self-guided walks...
Posted by
Southeast of Seattle
732 posts
London Walks did have an affiliate in Paris, but looks like it may have gone a different route.
As a huge fan of London Walks, I’ve longed for their format in other cities but have yet to find one. I’ll be following this to see what others recommend.
Posted by
Chicago
2055 posts
The website does have links to Italian walking tours but at $100 is pretty steep.
I know I took a Barcelona walk from the Tourism Office. You might want to look on the cities tourism website.
You would think Italy would have something like the Walks as there are a lot of Americans living there. I believe the Berlin Walks, London Walks, and Paris Walks were all started by Americans.
Posted by
Southeast of Seattle
732 posts
We have used guruwalks.com a couple of times and the tours have been great-knowledgeable guides but not to the level as the Blue Guides that work for London Walks. They are free or donation based.
Posted by
OP
28 posts
Thank you for the helpful leads to the tourism office and GuruWalk
Posted by
Vignola, Modena, Italy
557 posts
We have used guruwalks.com a couple of times and the tours have been great-knowledgeable guides but not to the level as the Blue Guides that work for London Walks.
Several of the Italian "guides" used by GuruWalks are not real licensed guides, but simple people who put on sell their tours on that platform. Of course is easy feel the difference with certified Blue Guides!
In general in almost every Italian cities there are group tours at the cost of 10/15€ done at least once a week, but in less touristy cities are done mainly in Italian. "Arte e Musei" is an example of how many tours like London Walks can be found: https://arteemusei.com/it/index.php . The point is that are performed in Italian!
In cities where international tourism is concentrated(Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples...) I am sure there are even several offers done by local tour operators.
In Bologna for example there is the "Discover Bologna" tour: https://www.bolognawelcome.com/en/experiences/298939/Discover-Bologna---City-centre-walking-tour . Done every day in the afternoon is probably exactly what you are looking for. 15€, 2 hours long visiting the most important monuments of the city.
Posted by
Southeast of Seattle
732 posts
Ah, yes Ricky. I was hoping to point out that they are still knowledgeable even though not licensed. Our guides were enthusiastic to share their love of their cities which they did well.
Posted by
New England
702 posts
In Bologna for example there is the "Discover Bologna" tour: https://www.bolognawelcome.com/en/experiences/298939/Discover-Bologna---City-centre-walking-tour . Done every day in the afternoon is probably exactly what you are looking for. 15€, 2 hours long visiting the most important monuments of the city.
I did that walking tour last September and guide was good at explaining the history and significance of what we saw in central Bologna. I think the contrast with the the 12 or so London Walks I’ve done is that London Walks guides weave the history and significance into an engaging narrative. Not as easy as it looks!